Sigrid Hakkinen
Sigrid is the The Minister for Recovery. She is originally from Helsinki but studied as an exchange student at Cambridge during the 1980s. Season Four Sigrid aids Abel in rescuing Veronica McShell. Once Veronica is safe, Sigrid offers Veronica her own lab. Steve Sissay has worked with Sigrid since before the outbreak. She hired him for "off-the-books" missions to give herself plausible deniability, and he believes he was the first person she called on Day Zero. Sigrid refused to take the hospitals' assurances that they could handle the plague, and she was able to save so many people because she acted immediately. Veronica seems to have more insight into Sigrid than most. In "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go," Veronica says: "I think she's very clever. And ambitious. She wants to be the prime minister, I think, when we cure the zombie virus. She wants to be the one who brought us through all this. She's cold, which is okay with me, because I'm cold too. But she can also be aggressive, which I don't like. I've heard her shout at people. And I think she's afraid of something, but I don't know what. She's not as strong as she seems." In "Who Are You?" Veronica's audio recording reveals that Sigrid is Van Ark's wife. The books about Van Ark were destroyed to prevent anyone from finding out Sigrid and Van Ark were married. Janine further concludes that Sigrid was the one who arranged for Sara Myers-Cohen-Yao to be kidnapped by Zombie Runner 5. Sigrid planned on vivisecting baby Sara to exploit her immunity. Sigrid was the one who gave Moonchild the order to shoot down Runner 5's helicopter in "Jolly Alpha Five Niner." It also appears that she was responsible for starting the zombie virus in the first place. Season Five After Sigrid believes Runner Five is loyal to her, she reveals how she met Van Ark. Sigrid, an Erasmus exchange student from Helsinki and a member of the running team, was trying to set a personal best on the running track at Cambridge. Van Ark (then a PhD student) wandered onto the track, holding a pile of books, and Sigrid ran into him. He told her she should have watched where she was going, because he had more important things on his mind. He claimed he was working on something to improve the human race and disparaged her for pointlessly running around the same length of track. Sigrid retorted that she was going to be the prime minister someday, and then she would be in charge of Van Ark's funding. Van Ark asked how much good that would do her when he was in charge of life and death. Sigrid called him the most absurd man she'd ever met, to which he replied that she was the most insufferable woman that he'd ever met. When Sigrid was a graduate student in political philosophy, the two realized they were both followers of Professor Holloway. Sigrid had spoken to Holloway many times and knew his daughter. Sigrid and Van Ark were both invited to a dinner after a lecture. Sigrid describes Van Ark as a "dashing young man." The two became friends and met again a year later at a genetics conference in Paris. Sigrid was 25. Van Ark invited her to a nearby bistro, but it began storming while they were on their way and they had to run. They sheltered in the doorway of Notre Dame, and Sigrid noted that she hated cathedrals because they represented wasted peasant labor for a nonexistent god. Van Ark agreed that religion was one of the greatest prisons for mankind and then asked why Sigrid was planning on returning to Finland, because the Wakened Land needed her to be prime minister. She told him that she couldn't stay in the U.K. once her student visa expired. They both express that they will miss each other, especially their great conversations. Van Ark gets down on one knee and proposes to Sigrid, "Just for the visa." Sigrid almost said no, but at the present believes it was the right choice. They got married and lived as friends in the same house. It was difficult for Sigrid when Van Ark brought his girlfriends home, because she was in love with Van Ark. Sigrid and Moonchild were friends (or possibly lovers), and Sigrid apparently confided in Moonchild about her situation. Moonchild advised Sigrid to leave Van Ark and mentioned how everything was connected. The latter idea sparked an idea in Sigrid. She spent time going through the classified files in the Ministry of Culture and found material from the Viking era that was still considered too sensitive to release to the public. Taking Moonchild's advice, Sigrid finally left a note saying that she was going home to Finland and wanted a divorce. As Sigrid was boarding her flight to Helsinki, Van Ark ran up to the gate and declared his love for her, saying that he'd been an idiot and she had always been the one. She ran across the concourse to him and asked if it were real. He said he admitted he'd taken her for granted, expecting she'd always be there, but that he only wanted her now. The two kissed and stayed together, helping each other with their work. Sigrid says they helped and strengthened each other by always being on each other's side. Sigrid thinks of herself as "the spiritual descendant of Dr. Dee" because she has power to make a man die and bring him back to life, something she considers the deepest mystery. Sigrid worked in as many civil service departments as possible and noticed some interesting connections. For instance, the health department had ancient records of medieval and Elizabethan plague that disappeared when a small vole called the Black British Pique went extinct. The Department of Culture also had records about the virus, and Sigrid was drawn to the idea that only the cunning, brave, and resourceful members of humanity survived it. She wanted to revive the plague to winnow down humanity to the best and brightest. She split the research between Van Ark and Moonchild, but to keep them safe, she didn't share her whole plan with anyone. Sigrid expected the virus resurrection to take at least a decade. However, she was as surprised as Van Ark and Moonchild to realize they shared a patient. However, while Van Ark was horrified by what he'd created, Sigrid pointed out that this was what they wanted—the land was Wakened. During the initial outbreak, Van Ark went to his lab to try to slow the virus down, while Sigrid went to the Ministry to put into action her plans to rebuild the nation in a new way. Van Ark said that the people would need someone to blame (him) and someone to trust (her). They exchange "I love you"s and then part ways. That was the last time they saw each other. Sigrid had all mentions of the marriage destroyed from records and libraries. They had been very discreet about their marriage for years, due to being afraid of an investigation over the visa situation, so there wasn't much information to remove. Sigrid says she still misses Van Ark every day. Sigrid views the unexpected nature of the virus as a test of her abilities as well as humanity's. She believes she has passed the test, and thanks to her, the best and fittest remnant of humanity has survived. She intends to innoculate her people with Veronica's vaccine and build a better nation. After recounting her story, Sigrid leaves on a transport for London.Category:People